Process of knitting stockings.



J. BLACK.

PBOGES 0F KNITTING STOCKINGS. 2

APPLICATION TILED OUT. 28. 1908. I

912,934, Patented Feb.16,1959.

WITILE SSESI INVENTORI 1 i, JOS/fl/i ELflCIQ *"fi v- W ing to which I employ a ribber which is knitting; occurs, so that the manual transfer outrun srarns PATENT orincn.

JOSIAH BLACK, OF PHILADELPHIA, IENICSYLViDIIA, ASSIGXOR 'lO ELIZA VAUGHAN, OF

PHIIADELPH IA, PENN SYLVANIA.

P3 00255 OF EHIETTIRG STOCKINGS.

Patented Feb. 16, 1909.

.1908. Serial No. 259,833.

To all 1 7mm it may concern.

Be it known that I, Josmn BLACK, of; Philadelphia, in the county of Philadelphia and State of Pennsylvania, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in the Process of Knitting Stockings, whereof the followin is a specification, reference being had to toe accompanying drawin s.

In my co-pcnding application SerialNumber 395,682, filed October 3rd, 1907, I have described and claimed a process of manu facturing hosiery with ribbed tops accordprovided .with automatic mechanism for transferring the dial loops to the cylinder needles and thereafter producing plaintubular knitting upon the cylinder needles. According to this process I produce upon such a machine string-work consisting of alternate' sections of ribbed and plain knitting, the wales of plain'knitting corresponding to two wales of the rib knitting. The stringwork thus produced is severed in the sections of plum knitting and manually transferred to a stocking knitter by stabbing the needles of the stocking knitter through the loops of one of the courses of plain knitting, which is pz'efe ably knit as a loose course for this purpose. The advantage which results from this process of knitting is the saving of tin -s. in the manual transfer of the work from the ribber to the stocking knitter. Owing to the reater elasticity required in the ribbed top it is necessary that this part of loops than the foot portion, which must not be too elastic; so that ordinarily in makl ing the manual transfer of the rib tops to the stocking kuitter, a number of the terminal loops of -the rib knitting must be doubled, that is to say, both :1 cylinder and a dial loop must. be placed upon a single needle of the stockingknilter, and as this operation is performed by hand, the loops being transferred one at a time, it is tedious and expensivel By my process however, this doulding of the loops is accomplished automatically upon the ribber, at the point where the change from rib knitting to plain p'eratiou consists of nothing more than the placing of a course of loops, one upon each of the needles of the stocking Emitter, an operation which any skilled topper can perform with great rapidity. In my said application however, I have described the manual transfer operation as taking place in one of the courses of plain knitting. I have now discovered that it. is preferable to effect this manual transfer operation upon the last course of loops knit. upon all of the needles of the ribber being the course in wiich the doubling or automatic transfer operation takes place, since in this way I secure the advantage of the automatic doubling of the 55 loops without the necessity of employingany of the courses of plain knitting which have been knit upon the ribber, in the ultimate fabric of the stocking. I thus secure all the advantages described in my other application, and at the some. time secure a neuter union in the stocking.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure I, represents diagrammatically a section of string-work knit according to my invention. Fig. II, exhibits on an enlarged scale the structure of that portion of F i I, which is indicated by dotted lines.

In practicing my process, I knit upon the ribber the requisite length of tubular ribbed fabric 1, for either half hose -or long hose as may be required. When the proper number of courses of ribbed knitting have been thus produced, I knit a single similar course 2, in which by alteration of the tension, longer loops are produced, thus forming what is usually known as a loose course "I I then effect the transfer upon the ribber of the loops of this loose course which are held ofa stocking should have a greater number upon the dial needles, to the corresponding cylinder needles, thus effecting a doubling of the loops at this point. This automatic transfer may be accomplished by various .mechanisms known in the art.

In Fig. II, there is exhibited at 2, the structure on an enlarged scale of this loose course of ribbed knitting after the loops 3, 3, have been doubled as described. I then operate the ribber for a few courses (three or four will usually suflice), for the production of plain tubular knitting 4, upon .the cylinder needles, such plain knitting having one-half as many wales as the prccedin" ri knitting by reason of the doubling of the loops. Thereupon, the dial needles are again thrown into 0 eration, and the knitting of ribbed fabric repeated, thus producing an indeterminate string-work consisting of a succession of ribbed tops separated from each other by a, few courses of plain knittin The fabric thus produced is severed along one of the courses'of lain knitting 4, and each rib top is then by land transferred to a stocking knitter by stabbin the needles of the stocking knitter throng the doubled loops of the last course 2, of ribbed knitting, which havin been knit as a loose course facilitates this 0 aeration. Thus two loops are placed upon eaei needle ot' the stocking knitter at a sin le operation, and just as rapidly as though this operation were performed upon a loose course knit in the section of plain knitting. The attached courses of plain knitting are then raveled out, and the stocking completely knit on the stocking knitter in continuity with the doubled and transferred loops. In this way 1 secure a very neat union at the oint of transfer, and also a doubling of tie loops without the necessit of the 0 )erator having to place by hand tie extra loops over the needles of the stocking knitter one by one as has hitherto been the practice.

Having thus described my invention, I claim 1. Knit tubular string-work for top) ed hose consisting of tubular sections of ri ed knitting of suitable length for the top of the stocking, alternating in succession with short sections of plain tubular knitting, each Wale of which corres ends to a cylinder Wale and a dial Wale o the rib knitting, the last course of the section of ribbed knitting being formed of lon er loops, doubled to correspond to the wa ies of the plain knitting.

2. The process of knitting a stocking.

which consists in knitting upon a ribber a tubular web of ribbed knittingtransferring the 100 )s of the lastcourse of this tubular web which are on the dial needles of the ribber to its cylinder needles; knitting on the cylinder needles of the ribber a short tubular section of plain knitting; manually transferring the tubular work thus produced to a stocking knitter by lacing upon each of its needles two doubles loops of the last course of ribbed knitting; removing the succeeding courses of plain knitting; and then knitting the remainder of the stocking on the stocking knitter.

In testimony whereof, I have hereunto signed my name, at Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, this twenty-second day of October 1908.

JOSIAH BLACK.

Witnesses:

J AMES H. BELL, E. L. Funusurox. 

